


All Our Broken, Fragile Pieces

by trahelle



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Child Abandonment, Child Neglect, Childhood, Children, Drabble, Established Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Panic Attacks, Parent-Child Relationship, Parenthood, Parents, Past Child Abuse, Steadfast Draco, Worried Harry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-13
Updated: 2018-11-13
Packaged: 2019-08-22 22:24:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16606571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trahelle/pseuds/trahelle
Summary: “She’s perfect,” Draco whispered beside Harry from where they lay on the hospital bed, their baby girl bundled in Draco’s arms. She was perfect and impossibly small — had they both really been that small? Without pictures from his childhood, it was hard for Harry to believe it. When he tried to think back on his life, he often felt as if he’d just shown up in the world as an adult. It wasn’t far off from the truth, it’s when he had actually started living.His voice felt caught in his throat, but he choked out, “She’s so fragile. Draco, she so fragile.” It was barely audible, so raw and broken.Draco looked at him then, bemusement mellowing to something soft and understanding. “Yes, she is now, but she’s strong, too,” he said, catching Harry’s gaze with his own. “She’s strong, too. She’s your daughter, you know.”





	All Our Broken, Fragile Pieces

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Alek-r's most recent Tumblr post: https://bit.ly/2FinZbv

“She’s perfect,” Draco whispered beside Harry from where they lay on the hospital bed, their baby girl bundled in Draco’s arms. She was perfect and impossibly small — had they both really been that small? Without pictures from his childhood, it was hard for Harry to believe it. When he tried to think back on his life, he often felt as if he’d just shown up in the world as an adult. It wasn’t far off from the truth, it’s when he had actually started living. 

His voice felt caught in his throat, but he choked out, “She’s so fragile. Draco, she  _ so _ fragile.” It was barely audible, so raw and broken. 

Draco looked at him then, bemusement mellowing to something soft and understanding. “Yes, she is now, but she’s strong, too,” he said, catching Harry’s gaze with his own. “She’s strong, too. She’s your daughter, you know.” 

Harry swallowed thickly. How could he have ever agreed to this? He didn’t know the first thing about parenting, about having a family or parents or a loving home. “I’m going to be a terrible father, Draco. What if I hurt her? What if I mess her up?” his breath was coming in shallow gasps, “I couldn’t live with myself if I hurt her, but I don’t know how to do any of this. I don’t know how it works.” Tears ran down his face, strangled sobs catching in his chest as he tried desperately to not wake her. 

He made to get up off the bed, but Draco caught his wrist to keep him from leaving. “Harry,” he said slowly, adopting the soothing tones he used to calm Harry when he had panic attacks. It irritated him now; why couldn’t he be normal? They had a child, Draco shouldn’t have to sooth him, too. 

Draco shifted awkwardly, freeing a hand to gently tilt Harry’s face to look at him. “Hey, the very fact that you’re worried about doing the right thing, means that you probably will. You know that right?” Harry shook his head stubbornly; it wasn’t that simple. Not with him, his life had never been that simple, that was the problem. 

“I don’t know what normal is, Draco. How can I give her a good life if I don’t know what that looks like?”

“There isn’t such a thing as a normal life. Earnest love and openness and caring — if we lavish her with those, we’ll be doing just fine.” 

Harry looked down at her sleeping form, the sight of her chest rising and falling beneath the swaddling blanket. He would always worry, that her heart was still beating, her lungs still breathing, that she was eating and sleeping well… He’d worry about all of it. 

Looking down at her cradled in Draco’s arms, it struck him that his parents had probably had the same worries about him. He hadn’t had them in his life long enough to remember them, but they’d loved him as much or more than the Dursley’s had hated him. The thought bolstered him and, for a moment, he felt lighter than he had in months. 

“Can I hold her?” Harry asked tentatively. The smile he saw on Draco’s face when he looked up was eclipsing as he gently passed the bundle over to Harry’s shaking arms. 

Her eyelashes fluttered, but she stayed asleep, breathing heavily. “Which name should we call her?” Harry asked, his shaking slowly subsiding. 

“Quince — I think we should call her Quince Potter-Malfoy,” Draco said, wrapping his arm around Harry. 

“‘s a good name,” Harry whispered, his heart feeling very full.

“It is,” Draco said, planting a gentle kiss on Harry’s forehead. “A good, strong name for our daughter.”

**Author's Note:**

> On tumblr as @trahelle


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